Pirates 2012 International Spending Recap

Ben Badler of Baseball America, released his recap of the Pirates 2012 International spending today. Like every other team in baseball, the Pirates had a $2.9 M cap for spending on International players. That cap didn’t go into place until July 2nd and it runs until June 15,2013. Any signings made earlier in the year did not count against it, plus there are a few allowances for spending just over the 2.9 M number. The top six bonuses of $50,000 or less don’t count against the cap and any player that signed for $7,500 or less, also doesn’t count. First to recap what we already knew, followed by notes from Badler’s own write-up on the Pirates spending.

The two biggest signings this year are sure to cause some confusion for Pirates fans. On July 2nd, they signed third baseman Julio de la Cruz for a $700,000 bonus. Nine days later, they signed outfielder Michael de la Cruz for a $700,000 bonus. The two 16-year-olds are not related. Between them, they accounted for nearly half of the Pirates International spending allotment.

On the two de la Cruz’s, the Pirates called Julio the best hitter they felt was available on the International market, while Michael was called a little raw, but he had five tool potential and could develop into a 20-25 home run guy

On August 1st, the Pirates made their next highest investment, signing catcher Yoel Gonzalez on his 16th birthday for $350,000. His defense was already said to be advanced at the time of his signing, but his bat was a little behind.

In July, the Pirates signed another third baseman with a big bat. Johan Herrera is slightly older than the normal high-priced signing, but the 17-year-old showed enough promise with the bat to receive a $300,000 bonus.

Badler adds a new name to the signings, one that hasn’t come up yet. On August 1st, the Pirates signed shortstop Johan De Jesus out of the Dominican. Like Gonzalez, he too turned 16 on August 1st. De Jesus signed for $200,000 and he is a right-handed hitter, 5’11” 170 pounds. He makes good contact and has strong fundamentals and game awareness, but no tools that stand out.

Badler notes that Julio de la Cruz will start the year in the Gulf Coast League, while Michael de la Cruz will likely open up in the GCL. The Pirates have been quick to move top signings recently, last year bringing both Elvis Escobar and Harold Ramirez to the states right away and in 2011, Luis Heredia made the same move. He also notes that Julio should be able to stick at third base as he moves up the ladder. With Michael, he says that the Pirates scouts were higher than most on him, saying most scouts feel his speed, arm and power aren’t what the Pirates thought, but notes that the Pirates have done well in the past in International scouting and they really like Michael.

Badler also notes that Herrera was signed on July 1st, so his bonus doesn’t count against the Pirates cap. He originally broke the news of the signing in November, so this is a change from his initial report.

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John Dreker

John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.

Gayo and his crew surely have bought themselves some credibility with their recent successes.

N.B: “Badler notes that Julio de la Cruz will start the year in the Gulf Coast League, while Michael de la Cruz will likely open up in the GCL.”

Will both players play in the GCL in 2013 when the season begins?

John Dreker

From the sound of it, Julio is a definite to be there and Michael is likely, but not 100% certain. That would make sense, because the latter is still a little raw, while Julio has an advanced approach at the plate and can recognize and hit a curveball already

rohabi

So with these new international rules does this mean that the Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers, etc. will not be able to bid millions of dollars just to negotiate with Japanese League players?

John Dreker

It only applies to amateur players for the most part. But if a player played pro ball in Japan, Cuba, Taiwan and China and is at least 23 years old, the rules don’t apply to them

rohabi

Gotcha. Thank you.

http://www.facebook.com/lee.young.161 Lee Young

Some more international guys to follow….fun stuff!

https://profiles.google.com/106508220943703406151 Kevin Anstrom

Badler noted that Johan Herrera signed his contract on July 1st. Therefore his $300K does not count against the $2.9M allowance.

John Dreker

Thanks for pointing that change out. The initial November signing mention came from Badler himself, along with the price(click on link for Herrera to see Badler’s announcement of the signing)